NAPA Auto Parts 125 Riverside Park Speedway
NASCAR Busch North Series, Grand National Division
August 24, 1996
AGAWAM, MA - In a cleaner race than the Busch North troops have
been known to...

AGAWAM, MA - In a cleaner race than the Busch North troops have
been known to put on at this quarter-mile oval, veteran Bobby
Dragon took down the win.

Thirty-four cars arrived at the track to try for the twenty-six
starting positions. Glen Brehio practiced but did not attempt to
qualify. Fast timer was Brandon Butler with a 13.782 second lap,
with Jerry Marquis second best at 13.931 as the top 20 starters of
the feature came from time trial results.

Carnage in the second lap of the qualifying race (to fill starting
positions 21 and 22) saw Kelly Moore squeeze Bryan Wall into the
frontstretch wall. Moore took a provisional and moved into the
feature with a back-up car while Wall was finished for the night.

The re-drawing shuffle saw 4th best timer Babe Branscombe draw the
pole, with Jeff Barry outside. Behind these two, Brad Leighton and
Robbie Crouch made up the second row, and Tom Carey and Dave Dion
in the third.

The green flag waved at 9:23PM and Branscombe took off with the
lead with Leighton passing Barry for second. Barry ran in third,
followed by Crouch, Marquis, Dion, Mike Stefanik, Carey, B.Butler,
and Stub Fadden making up the early top ten. Yellow came out for
the first time on lap 10 when Marquis was spun heading into turn
three. Because of his involvement in the incident, Crouch was sent
to the rear of the field. Gege Gravel took this opportunity to
pit.

Racing resumed on lap 15 and on the restart Leighton took the lead
from Branscombe, and Stefanik also got by for second. Branscombe
fell into third, followed by Barry, B.Butler, Bobby Dragon, Carey,
Dion, Andy Santerre and Fadden. The Sta-Rite Pumps Chevrolet of
Denny Doyle started smoking as Gravel retired his S&J
Transportation Pontiac to the infield. Doyle soon joined Gravel in
the infield.

Green flag racing reigned over the speedway for most of the race,
and the drivers had to contend with heated brakes. From the
grandstands one could see most cars with brake rotors glowing red
as they headed into the third turn. Lapped traffic was also
becoming a factor thirty laps into the race, and for the most part
was not terribly cooperative. On lap 30 the running order was
Leighton, Stefanik, Branscombe, Dragon, Santerre, Dion, Barry,
Carey, B.Butler and Fadden. Mike Gallo retired to the center of
the infield with a blown right front tire, waiting for a yellow to
give him an opportunity to pit.

Negotiating traffic kept the leaders pretty much single file,
though by lap 50 Dragon was up to third, and on lap 50 he took
second from Stefanik, who was having more brake troubles than most.
At the halfway point the top ten was made up of Leighton, Dragon,
Stefanik, Branscombe, Santerre, Dion, Dale Shaw, Marquis, Carey,
and Jamie Aube.

Glenn Sullivan retired from the event on lap 83 in his Brioschi
Antacid Chevrolet. More shuffling at the front saw Stefanik losing
more positions, putting Branscombe to third, Santerre to fourth by
lap 90.

On lap 95 Bobby Dragon used lapped traffic to get by Leighton for
the lead just as the yellow came out for Jerry Marquis' second
spin, this one the result of a flat left rear putting him in the
wall. Marquis drove the car into the pits, but the team called it
a night. Also pitting under this yellow were Gallo, Doyle, and
Jeff Barry, who slapped the frontstretch wall under green many laps
ago and wound up losing many laps riding around afterwards.

The restart took place with 17 laps to go, with Dragon leading
Leighton, Branscombe, Dave Dion, Santerre, Shaw, Stefanik, Carey,
Fadden, Aube, Crouch, Kelly Moore, Tom Bolles and B.Butler as the
only cars on the lead lap. Shortly after the restart Dion passed
Branscombe for third. On lap 116 Eric Bodine and Bill Penfold
tangled but didn't bring out a yellow as they both got going on
their own. Bodine, however, had his rear bumper cover loosened and
was black-flagged.

Brad Leighton spun out of second place in the second turn while
under pressure from Dave Dion on lap 121, but also got going and
didn't bring out a yellow. Half a lap later Babe Branscombe spun
on the front straight but again the yellow wasn't thrown. Dale
Shaw's car started smoking heavily, and the interior of the car was
filled with smoke, causing cars to scramble around him and because
of the fear that he was dropping fluid, the yellow was thrown on
lap 123, setting up a green-white-checker finish. Pitting under
this yellow were Jeff Barry and Billy Penfold.

The restart on lap 129 saw Bobby Dragon drive away as cars quickly
got down to side-by-side racing behind him. Dragon drove
unchallenged to the checkers for the win, followed by Dave Dion,
then Mike Stefanik just nosing out Andy Santerre, and Tom Carey
just nosing out the ailing car of Dale Shaw. The checkers flew at
10:02PM.